princess phone ringers

[princessphone]

Can someone tell me how to test a ringer for a princess phone. From all the princesses I've taken apart, all the ringers have 4 wires coming out, of which 2 are disabled. That leaves 2 wires (black and red). To test the ringer (bell), what voltage should I apply to the red and black wires? Is it AC or DC? Does polarity matter? If it's AC, what is the hertz (cycle per sec) that the CO (central office) provides?
Up to now I've been using my method of interchanging a ringer to correct a non ringing phone - when all other trouble shooting methods are exhausted.
To make this long story short, is there a simple way to test  the ringer?
Thanks, John DeJonge 

[Kenton K]

just wire it up to the network like usual and test the entire phone. So simple. Use a test number. In my area, its 958-(last 4 digits). Then tap the hookswitch and hang up. Or use a cell. No fancy stuff.

-Ken

[poplar1]

Most C.O.s send out 90-105 Volts AC @ 20~. A Princess ringer should work regardless of polarity.

[princessphone]

Thanks for the info Poplar1
To Kenton K: Are you saying to just hook up the ringer unit to the phone line? That is the black and red wires of the ringer to the green and red terminals of a phone jack? And then call my own house from my cell phone, and then if the ringer is OK it should ring along with the rest of the phones in the house? Please confirm this.
Is this basically how an external ringer works for the non-ringing 701B princess phones?
Thank for the help, John DeJonge

[Phonesrfun]

You need to have a .5mF capacitor in series:

I.E.

Red ringer to one side of the line
Black ringer wire to .5mF 250 Volt capacitor
Other side of capacitor to other side of the line.

Connecting the ringer directly to the line without going through the capacitor would cause the line to do funny things.

When Kenton said connect through the network, on a Western Electric Network, there is a .5mF capacitor on terminals A and K.

[princessphone]

Thanks Bill. I'm glad you explained about the capacitor.
Best regards, John DeJonge

[Kenton K]

And if you source a capacitor, make sure it is a 200v plus.  A small cap may burst!

-Ken

[princessphone]

Thanks Ken. John